A MEMORABILIA company is to launch a Hillsborough Anniversary Coin 21 years after the tragedy.

The coin, which will bear the names of all 96 victims on one side, is being backed by campaigners from the Hillsborough Family Support Group who will benefit from sales.

Maurice McNally, 55, is one of the people behind the project.

He said: “It was last year at the anniversary and an ECHO headline We Shall Never Forget which is where the idea came from.

“Things have been made in the past, scarves and flags, but a coin is forever, it will not rot.

“This coin will still be here in 1,000 years and you can pass it down through generations.”

The coin has been designed and commissioned by a team of Liverpudlians working in the Midlands where a long tradition of minting means they can get access to the most skilled craftsmen.

Mr McNally said the 3oz, solid copper coin, which weighs as much as 12 50p pieces is of the same quality as anything the Royal Mint could produce.

He added: “It’s the result of 300 years of minting knowledge that we have in this country.

“The man who engraved it used a needle with a diamond tip and had to take breaths to lower his heart beat so he didn’t slip.

“If he made a mistake he’d have to throw the whole thing in the bin.”

The coins have a raised 3D image of a Liver Bird on the reverse and are cut out with a £1m press applying 360 tonnes of pressure.

Mr McNally said: “The stoker, who has been making coins for 40 years, said we couldn’t to do what we wanted without minting it twice.

“That means twice the work and having to put the coin back in exactly the same place before being pressed again or it would be ruined. That’s what does my head in but these guys have been doing it all their lives.”

He also revealed his copper contact only sold him the metal because he found out it was a Hillsborough project.

He added: “The price has gone through the roof recently but people want to help because of the cause.”

John Kavanagh, 34, from Norris Green, has designed a Barack Obama coin and LFC ones for the Athens and Istanbul Champions League Finals, but the Hillsborough Memorial was special.

He said: “Usually a coin takes me a week but this one took about three weeks.

“It’s been emotional being involved in something so close to my heart.

“I’m very proud to have been involved.”

The coin will now be sold through the company’s website www.liverpool96.com at £16.99 a coin, with between £3 and £4 going to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.

Margaret Aspinall, who lost her son James at Hillsborough, said: “It means a great deal to us. We can’t thank these people enough.

“It’s twenty years later and people are still doing all they can to help the families.